In a recent Q&A session with the presidential candidates at nature.com, John Kerry
mentions that a dozen Americans have walked on the moon. Who are they
and what missions were they a part of? What about other nations? How
many people in total have walked the surface of the moon?

The one dozen Americans mentioned by Kerry are the only human beings
to have set foot on the moon. No other nation has send humans to the
moon.

"Twenty-four astronauts have been on or near the Moon. Twelve of these
landed on the moon and actually walked on its surface. All are men
from the United States of America who traveled to the Moon as part of
NASA's Apollo program during the period from December 1968 to December
1972...

The following twelve people have walked on the Moon, each on one
mission only. Nobody has walked on the moon since 1972.

1.  Neil Armstrong - Apollo 11 - July, 1969 
2.  Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin - Apollo 11 - July, 1969 
3.  Charles "Pete" Conrad - Apollo 12 - November, 1969 
4.  Alan Bean - Apollo 12 - November, 1969 
5.  Alan Shepard - Apollo 14 - February, 1971 
6.  Edgar Mitchell - Apollo 14 - February, 1971 
7.  David Scott - Apollo 15 - July, 1971 
8.  James Irwin - Apollo 15 - July, 1971 
9.  John Young - Apollo 16 - April, 1972 (see also Apollo 10) 
10. Charles Duke - Apollo 16 - April, 1972 
11. Gene Cernan - Apollo 17 - December, 1972 (see also Apollo 10) 
12. Harrison Schmitt - Apollo 17 - December, 1972"

Fact Index: List of Lunar Astronauts
http://www.fact-index.com/l/li/list_of_lunar_astronauts.html

Google search strategy:

Google Web Search: "lunar astronauts"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=%22lunar+astronauts

I hope this is precisely the information you need. If anything is
unclear or incomplete, please request clarification; I'll be glad to
offer further assistance before you rate my answer.

Best regards,
pinkfreud

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Clarification of Answer by pinkfreud-ga on 16 Sep 2004 12:51 PDT

I had meant to include this in my answer:

"Three men who have walked on the moon are now dead. They are Pete
Conrad, Apollo 12 (1930-1999); Alan B. Shepard, Apollo 14,
(1923-1998); and James B. Irwin, Apollo 15, (1930-1991)."

Houston Chronicle: Man on the Moon
http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/special/moon/factsmyths/

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Clarification of Answer by pinkfreud-ga on 16 Oct 2004 10:03 PDT

A sad note: Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper died October 4, 2004.

http://www.space.com/news/gordon_cooper_041004.html

Precise answer, v. quick, included search strategy -- excellent job!

Please excuse a typographical error in my answer. Rather than "No
other nation has send humans to the moon," I meant to say "No other
nation has sent humans to the moon."

This is what happens when the fingers type more rapidly than the brain thinks. ;-)

~pinkfreud

HiYa Pinkfreud

Hope you are keeping well. I am actually counting 26 astronauts who
have been on or near the Moon. I come to this number from the
following:

Apollo  8 times 3
Apollo 10 times 3
Apollo 11 times 3
Apollo 12 times 3
Apollo 13 times 3
Apollo 14 times 3
Apollo 15 times 3
Apollo 16 times 3
Apollo 17 times 3
total 27    
subtract 1  as I believe James Lovell has been the only astronaut in
the vicinity of the moon twice (apollo 8 and 13)

Have a nice day 

Mongolia

Mongolia,

Subtract 3 from 27. This gives 24, as mentioned in the quote above,
"Twenty-four astronauts have been on or near the Moon. Twelve of these
landed on the moon and actually walked on its surface."

In addition to Lovell, Astronauts John Young and Eugene Cernan also
served on two moon missions each.

Pinkfreud
I stand fully corrected :-)

Google search strategy:

Google Web Search: People who have been on the Moon
://www.google.com/search?num=20&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=People+who+have+been+on+the+Moon&btnG=Search

I wonder how many questions could be answered 
by simply pasting the question into Google...

We never landed on the moon
Want a proof....
Do you believe until now NASA CAN'T build a plane that can land or
take off vertically....
So how we go to the moon....
Do you realize how small the spacecraft that take man to the moon?It's
small,so where NASA put the gas?It's amazing that the spacecraft can
go to the moon and go back again with little gas...and do you know
that the USA flag waves in the moon,the place with no air...and now
why don't NASA send man again to the moon before they send man to
mars.........Because they can't....